Sat, 25 May 2019 03:15:58 -0700WeeblyFri, 10 May 2019 19:46:04 GMThttp://www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com/blog/8-types-of-loveWhen I love with God's love, it is with the agape love of the Greeks....​

There are many paths in life. But the longest of them all is the path to the heart.​If you resist this path, you will take lifetimes to find it again. If you surrender and embrace it, you’ll be home.

We’ve all been blinded by the blanket of emotions that comes from falling down the precipice of union into love. While we only have one word for it, the ancient Greeks in their pursuit of wisdom and self-understanding, found seven different varieties of love that we all experience at some point.

When we understand the different types of love out there, we can become conscious of how deep our connection is with ourselves and the other people in our lives.

8 Different Types of LoveWhat different types of love are you currently experiencing and how are they impacting your life?

1. “Eros” or Erotic LoveThe first kind of love is Eros, which is named after the Greek god of love and fertility. Eros represents the idea of sexual passion and desire.

The ancient Greeks considered Eros to be dangerous and frightening as it involves a “loss of control” through the primal impulse to procreate. Eros is a passionate and intense form of love that arouses romantic and sexual feelings.

Eros is an exulted and beautifully idealistic love that in the hearts of the spiritually mature can be used to “recall knowledge of beauty” (as Socrates put it) through Tantra and spiritual sex. But when misguided, eros can be misused, abused and indulged in, leading to impulsive acts and broken hearts.

Eros is a primal and powerful fire that burns out quickly. It needs its flame to be fanned through one of the deeper forms of love below as it is centered around the selfish aspects of love, that is, personal infatuation and physical pleasure.

Love Catalyst: The physical body

2. “Philia” or Affectionate LoveThe second type of love is philia, or friendship. The ancient Greeks valued philia far above eros because it was considered a love between equals.

Plato felt that physical attraction was not a necessary part of love, hence the use of the word platonic to mean, “without physical attraction.” Philia is a type of love that is felt among friends who’ve endured hard times together.

As Aristotle put it, philia is a “dispassionate virtuous love” that is free from the intensity of sexual attraction. It often involves the feelings of loyalty among friends, camaraderie among teammates, and the sense of sacrifice for your pack.

Examples in Films: Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Girl Next Door

Love Catalyst: The mind

3. “Storge” or Familiar LoveAlthough storge closely resembles philia in that it is a love without physical attraction, storge is primarily to do with kinship and familiarity. Storge is a natural form of affection that often flows between parents and their children, and children for their parents.

Storge love can even be found among childhood friends that is later shared as adults. But although storge is a powerful form of love, it can also become an obstacle on our spiritual paths, especially when our family or friends don’t align with or support our journey.

Love Catalyst: Causal (Memories)

4. “Ludus” or Playful LoveAlthough ludus has a bit of the erotic eros in it, it is much more than that. The Greeks thought of ludus as a playful form of love, for example, the affection between young lovers.

Ludus is that feeling we have when we go through the early stages of falling in love with someone, e.g. the fluttering heart, flirting, teasing, and feelings of euphoria.

Playfulness in love is an essential ingredient that is often lost in long-term relationships. Yet playfulness is one of the secrets to keeping the childlike innocence of your love alive, interesting and exciting.

Love Catalyst: Astral (Emotion)

5. “Mania” or Obsessive LoveMania love is a type of love that leads a partner into a type of madness and obsessiveness. It occurs when there is an imbalance between eros and ludus.

To those who experience mania, love itself is a means of rescuing themselves; a reinforcement of their own value as the sufferer of poor self-esteem. This person wants to love and be loved to find a sense of self-value. Because of this, they can become possessive and jealous lovers, feeling as though they desperately “need” their partners.

If the other partner fails to reciprocate with the same kind of mania love, many issues prevail. This is why mania can often lead to issues such as codependency.

Love Catalyst: Survival instinct

6. “Pragma” or Enduring LovePragma is a love that has aged, matured and developed over time. It is beyond the physical, it has transcended the casual, and it is a unique harmony that has formed over time.

You can find pragma in married couples who’ve been together for a long time, or in friendships that have endured for decades. Unfortunately pragma is a type of love that is not easily found. We spend so much time and energy trying to find love and so little time in learning how to maintain it.

Unlike the other types of love, pragma is the result of effort on both sides. It’s the love between people who’ve learned to make compromises, have demonstrated patience and tolerance to make the relationship work.

Love Catalyst: Etheric (Unconscious)

7. “Philautia” or Self LoveThe Greeks understood that in order to care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves. This form of self-love is not the unhealthy vanity and self-obsession that is focused on personal fame, gain and fortune as is the case with Narcissism.

Instead, philautia is self-love in its healthiest form. It shares the Buddhist philosophy of “self-compassion” which is the deep understanding that only once you have the strength to love yourself and feel comfortable in your own skin, will you be able to provide love to others. As Aristotle put it, “All friendly feelings for others are an extension of a man’s feelings for himself.”

You cannot share what you do not have. If you do not love yourself, you cannot love anyone else either. The only way to truly be happy is to find that unconditional love for yourself. Only once you learn to love and understand yourself, will you be ready to search for the spiritual freedom of the Self.

Love Catalyst: Soul

8. “Agape” or Selfless LoveThe highest and most radical type of love according to the Greeks is agape, or selfless unconditional love.

This type of love is not the sentimental outpouring that often passes as love in our society. It has nothing to do with the condition-based type of love that our sex-obsessed culture tries to pass as love.

Agape is what some call spiritual love. It is an unconditional love, bigger than ourselves, a boundless compassion, an infinite empathy. It is what the Buddhists describe as “metta” or “universal loving kindness.” It is the purest form of love that is free from desires and expectations, and loves regardless of the flaws and shortcomings of others.

Agape is the love that is felt for that which we intuitively know as the divine truth: the love that accepts, forgives and believes for our greater good.

Love Catalyst: Spirit

***

Thanks to the ancient Greeks, we can learn from all the different types of love in our lives. Because of these distinctions, we can learn that in order to truly enjoy eros we must also search for greater depths through philia and cultivate ludus, avoiding mania as our relationships mature. It’s through these efforts that we’ll find pragma in our soulmate or twin flame relationships.

Finally, through the power philautia and agape we can come to understand how amazing our human hearts really are. Our hearts are the only things in the universe that grow larger the more they give to others.

The ancient Greeks narrowed down eight different types of love in life. Are you falling in love? Is it true love or obsessive (mania) love? What about loving yourself? Read all about love in this article (click for more).

About Mateo SolMateo Sol is a prominent psychospiritual counselor and mentor whose work has influenced the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Born into a family with a history of drug addiction, schizophrenia, and mental illness, Mateo Sol was taught about the plight of the human condition from a young age. As a spiritual counselor and mentor, Sol’s mission is to help others experience freedom, wholeness, and peace in any stage of life.

To me DS9 is rich with myth and meaning, and a balance of serious and silly. The closing episode was an artistic wrap-up of an epic war and a re-cap of poignant moments between the main characters, the captain and crew of a space station strategically located in view of a wormhole between quadrants of the universe.

This wormhole, and home of the Prophets, is referred to as the CelestialTemple by the Bajoran people.

The Bajorans worship the Temple Prophets as gods. Some on the space station refer to them as 'wormhole aliens.'

The slides above will have more meaning to those who know the series, but in a nutshell their deepest message in my view is about love, forgiveness, compassion and healing. Love has many forms, and the series addressed most of them. When I love with God's love, it is with the agape love of the Greeks. ( 8 Different Types of Love According to the Ancient Greeks. )

Shortly after their arrival, the Starfleet crew discovers a stable wormhole in Bajoran space leading from the Alpha Quadrant to the Gamma Quadrant, and the station is moved to a strategic position near the wormhole's entrance to safeguard it from the Cardassians. Deep Space Nine and Bajor quickly become a center for exploration, interstellar trade, political maneuvering, and open conflict.

More could be read into the stories, and I choose not to go far into that maze, rather to savor the overall feeling and highlights.

However, the obvious comparisons are intriguing. The prophets of the Celestial Temple could relate to Archangel Michael and his angels, and the Pah-wraith, cast out from the same wormhole, to Lucifer with his fallen angel host. Such comparisons only go so far, of course. DS9 left me ruminating on 'what is the God of the Bible?'

The Elohim and Law God of the Old Testament seem to me local gods, dealing in dualism and conflicts. The Heavenly Father of Y'shua (Jesus) may also be a local god, a unity consciousness. To me, in the undifferentiated Absolute of infinite love and compassion there can be no Trinity as it is undifferentiated and non-specific. Unity consciousness, however, would be a more complete perspective than the God of Moses.

Captain Benjamin Cisko is called 'The Cisko' by the Temple Prophets, the gods of the Bajoran people. He is called the Emissary by the Bajorans. Benjamin learns that his mother is one of the Prophets, reminding me of the divine humanity of Y'shua and 'The Cisko' sounding similar to 'the Christ.' What I have felt, that religions contain elements and characters from the astral planes rather than the 'higher' regions of undifferentiated consciousness, is nicely played out in this science fiction series.

When I live by my own edict, 'Embrace all as it is,' it includes equally the local gods of dualism and unity. There are no exceptions in the All. We are all in the process of unfolding to the Absolute, the most complete perspective.

The final episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Season 7, is titled, 'What You Leave Behind', which also corresponds with my present course of leaving behind much of my old familiar life and embarking on a new adventure into the deep space of the unknown. Stay tuned.

Images by other artists are usually reprinted on this site by permission, with credit. This artist is unknown to me. Any information about the artist will be appreciated. Here, 'moment' is understood as Present Moment.

]]>Sun, 07 Apr 2019 20:41:49 GMThttp://www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com/blog/embraceEmbrace all as it is, and witness the beauty of your becoming.

EMBRACE is a game of playing cards designed to be an on-going journey of 'knowing thyself.' The game offers the structure of a defined territory of inner space, and the freedom to explore it fully – leading to authenticity and self-empowerment. Symbolic meanings are offered as guidelines, relating to the play of the game. The idea is to ask within. Embrace is meant not as a competition but as a cooperation. Details of the play are left to individual creativity.​

The game may be played by one or many players. As one player, it is suggested to simply pull a card from a common deck each morning, note the card in a journal, and ponder the meaning over the day.

The game begins when players still their minds and go within. A card is pulled and a question asked of oneself. Starting questions can be, 'What does this card mean to me?' or 'How does this apply to me?'

For this game, the suits are understood as below. The number of the card pulled is subject to individual interpretation, which may come from astrology, numerology, symbolism, tarot or simply feeling what is true. In general:

HEARTS are for following the heart on a journey from unsteady emotions to the steady beat of unconditional, non-specific, unchangeable love.

DIAMONDS are 'what you value most'. They are for shifting from identification with illusion to authenticity.

CLUBS are the suit of the mind. They are about expanding beyond mental architecture to a more complete perspective.

SPADES are for digging deep within, through layers of conditioning to the foundation of Being and consciousness.

The JOKER is the non-specific, the mirror, the zero point.

The Play of the Game

The first player turns one card face up, listens for the message and says what is felt.

All players look for patterns or insights which may begin to appear in the upturned cards, and bring them out by turn.

Rounds continue in this way until all cards have been pulled and all players have had their turns to share.

Each player is given the opportunity at the end to summarize the message of the game just played to them, and to share any insights.

Players are encouraged to keep journal notes, submit questions for the round, and introduce the game to not yet players.

NUMBER SYMBOLISMGuidelines for Interpretation

The ACE is 0 / 1ZERO (O): Emptiness of zero / the totality of the circle • New beginnings • Potential • Rebirth • Something has come full circle

FIVE (5): A period of perceived chaos • Circular, as it produces itself in its last digit when raised to its own power • Five petaled flower (such as rose) • Five pointed star depicts individuality and spiritual aspiration • Forward motion • Innovation • Instability • Meditation • Microcosm • Religion • Senses • Time to take action • Travel • Unpredictability • Versatility

NINE (9): 0 to 9 is all that is needed to make up an infinite amount of numbers • Attainment • Beginning and the end • Completed pattern • Fulfillment • Increased mental strength and intellectual power • Inventiveness • Circumference • Profit may be indicated • Pure intelligence • Satisfaction • Triple Triad • Truth, since it reproduces itself when multiplied

TEN (10): Completion of journeys and return to origins • Divine support • Intelligence • Number of the cosmos—the paradigm of creation • Rebirth • Sum of the number nine of the circumference with the one of the center — being perfection • Ten is all-inclusive, representing law; order and dominion • The decad contains all numbers and therefore all things and possibilities • The perfect — the return to unity • The radix or turning point of all counting • Transcending

The QUEEN is the perfecting feminine principle. As (12), it symbolizes: Abilities as a healer • Contemplation • Embracing all as it is • Finding wisdom within • Patience • Power of stillness • Prayer

The KING is the commanding masculine principle. As (13), it speaks of: Cleansing • Death to limited persona and birth to expanded consciousness • Passage to a higher level of existence (a more complete perspective) • Purification

Please share thoughts, comments and suggestions regarding the game by using the contact form.

]]>Wed, 03 Apr 2019 02:07:17 GMThttp://www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com/blog/play-your-cardsThe deck of 52 playing cards is actually a timeless system of Knowledge that reveals the programming language of our reality.

This ancient Knowledge was hidden in plain sight as cards to play games like poker. But really it’s a mathematical toolkit for personal growth and development.

Using this tool we can diagnose our strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities with laser-sharp precision. The resulting clarity is game-changing.

The Karma Seekera book by Stefan G. Meyer'What is the true test of spirituality? Is it loyalty to a master, group, or teaching? Or is it having the courage to act on one's deepest convictions, even in the face of disapproval and sanction? ​

'This is the question that confronts Kip Morgan. Kip is a karma seeker—an individual committed to testing himself by means of his own choices. For such people, who are engaged in an experiment with unknown forces, there is not way to prove that they are fit to discover what they seek except by doing it.

'As a young man, Kip joins the League, one of the burgeoning new age spiritual groups of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He learns the fundamentals of its teachings, which involve cultivating inner experiences through contemplation, dreams, and out-of-body experiences. The high point of his experience comes with his initiation into the League's inner circle, a transcendent event that significantly alters his view of life. It doesn't take long, however, before he discovers how fragile this experience is, and how difficult it is to hold on to his new state of consciousness.

'Kip embarks on a quest that takes him beyond the confines of the League. Eventually, he comes to question the group's claim to exclusivity, and to see it as merely a portal to a universal spiritual path. As he becomes less reliant on the League and its members for support and guidance, he is torn between his personal vision of truth and his fear of spiritual failure. This puts him on a collision course with the League President, the group's ultimate spiritual authority.

'The Karma Seeker is a far-reaching guidebook to contemporary spirituality. It presents the reader with the essential paradigm of the modern spiritual path—its highs and lows, its rewards and pitfalls. It illustrates how individuals who embark on such a path are tested in the areas of their greatest deficiency in order to build up their spiritual strength, all so that they may eventually become active participants in their own destiny.'

]]>Sun, 03 Mar 2019 23:34:41 GMThttp://www.wholehuman.emanatepresence.com/blog/theremin'The theremin (/ˈθɛrəmɪn/... is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (performer). It is named after the Westernized name of its Soviet inventor, Léon Theremin (Лев Термен), who patented the device in 1928.' ~ Wikipedia

​'With loops and a variety of sound effects, CAROLINA EYCK develops whole choirs and extends the theremin's color palette. By singing without lyrics, voice and theremin often merge symbiotically and can no longer be distinguished from each other. The voice gives the theremin something human, the theremin her voice something unapproachable.'

'This video with Carolina Eyck gives a short description of how it works and how to play it. Basic information for a better understanding of this remarkable instrument.'

The Theremin in Music & Film'Originally, the theremin was intended to play classical music and even replace entire orchestras with its "music from the aether." While that never quite happened, it has been used in many recordings over the years....

'In 1993, Steven M. Martin produced a documentary entitled Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey. This incredible film provides an in-depth look into the history of the instrument and its inventor. The film features rare footage and interviews with music industry legends such as Robert Moog, Todd Rundgren, and Brian Wilson as well as Prof. Leon Theremin himself!'

'Playing Debussy's famous "Clair de Lune" on the Theremin - which is a very special musical instrument, invented in the 20's by a Russian scientist (Leon Theremin). You play it without even touching it through electromagnetic fields - generated by two antennas. On the vertical one you control the pitch, and the other one determines the volume.'

Grégoire Blanc is a young french artist, known as a talented classical thereminist.

Grégoire dedicates his artistic journey to the theremin – this very special musical instrument, being played “in the air”.​​

'Theremins are distinguished by the fact that they are played without the performer touching the instrument. The musician moves his or her hands in proximity to the theremin to control the tone of the sound.

'While mastering the theremin requires skill, the challenge is exciting, and the rewards are great. Few musical instruments are capable of such intimate expression, nor provide the unique visual appearance of performance.' ~ ​Harrison Instruments​